Top Florida court mulling Everglades debt deal

(Reuters) - Florida's top court has taken on a high-stakes environmental dispute over a proposed $536 million deal between the state and U.S. Sugar Corp to purchase 73,000 acres of farmland for Everglades restoration.

Lawyers on Wednesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to determine if the South Florida Water Management District was justified in approving the sale of bonds to buy the land when it signed off on the historic deal in 2009.

In oral arguments, attorneys for the Miccosukee Tribe living near the Everglades and U.S. Sugar competitors say the parcel, reduced from an original footprint of more than 180,000 acres, is a sweetheart deal that will allow U.S. Sugar to farm much of the tract for years to come.

Water management officials and environmentalists discount that argument, calling the purchase critical to efforts to substantially improve water quality in the Everglades as part of a sweeping effort to revive the "River of Grass" ecosystem.

"We believe this land acquisition provides the best and last chance for significant Everglades restoration," said Thom Rumberger, an attorney representing Florida Audubon. "The purchase of the land itself has merit".

Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, announced plans in 2008 to purchase from U.S. Sugar 180,000 acres south of Lake Okeechobee for more than $1.3 billion in what would have been the largest land purchase in state history.

The severe U.S. recession that stung Florida especially hard and other economic headwinds, however, forced negotiators to downsize to 73,000 acres. Last year, the water management district voted to levy $536 million in bonds to pay for it.

The Miccosukees challenged the new deal, saying the parcel no longer satisfies a requirement that it serve a public purpose. If the deal does not meet that standard, the water management district cannot float bonds to pay for it.

The court's review is limited to the propriety of the bond sale, but other issues, including a recent federal court ruling ordering water managers to continue work on a reservoir project stalled by the U.S. Sugar deal, provide a larger backdrop.

In March, Chief U.S. District Judge Frederico Moreno ordered the state to restart an $800 million reservoir project in the Everglades Agricultural Area mothballed to free up funds for the U.S. Sugar deal. By his order, Moreno upheld a 2006 special master's ruling recommending the construction in response to a lawsuit by the Miccosukee Tribe.

The Florida justices made no ruling Wednesday and may issue a decision at any time.

Additional reporting by Michael Connor in Miami; Editing by Padraic Cassidy

Reuters